What Happened to Toon Tracker?

[D'Snowth]

I'm sure Drtooth's been to this site numerous times, but it was a site dedicating to preserving long-forgotten and obscure animated shows from yesteryears (had a lot of really old and rare Rocky and Bullwinkle audio and video clips), but . . . I notice it doesn't seem to exist anymore, it seems to have just disappeared, I can't find it anymore. I found its YouTube channel, but now the site itself. Anybody know what happened to it?

 

[Drtooth]

The same thing that happened with all fansites eventually. Or should I say "same things."

The site administrator probably stopped having the time to constantly update and upload everything. Always remember, these are people and people (for the most part) have lives. Sometimes they'll just walk away from the whole deal. I mean, the site was something that came out of the 90's. Had that fershulgginer Real Player on it. I was delighted to see he had a YT channel years back.

Which brings me to the pretty obvious fate with those old fansites. With Wikipedia, Youtube, tumblr, and other easier to use sites where you don't have to build one from the ground up. And as a result, these kinds of sites are far more interactive and collaboration friendly. I mean, I remember plunking down 30 bucks on a meh quality bootlegged VHS of The Mighty Heroes off that site back in 2000 (because I had some weird obsession with this show back then for some reason). It was clearly from some of the impossible to find Video Treasures line (though I found James Hound no problem, but the quality of that VHS was terrible. I bought it twice and both copies were awful), plus some old footage of as it was broadcast Mighty Mouse Playhouse (with commercials in tact). The age of Youtube and torrents made that kind of piracy, the physical, someone's actually making money off of it type, completely obsolete. But you know, you can't see the future and I bought one anyway.

Meanwhile, most fan sites that are still around only exist because they have a forum. If TT were still around, I'd see a Toon Tracker Wiki that lists the same shows in greater detail. Lost things are actually becoming easier to track down as a result of YT and dedicated as heck individuals (check out Lost Media Wiki, but the new one) who will even pay to get bootleggs or rare VHS's and DVDs and share them. There's a whole tumblr for lost cartoon pilots. for example. Things are easier and faster and have more helping hands than an old fansite could ever have. Sometimes even someone who worked on a rare show will pop up and add something.